Current Affairs

Republican Steve King lashes out at bisexual Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez

Mar 29 2018
Written by Josh Jackman

(Getty)

Republican Congressman Steve King has lashed out at bisexual Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez.

You might remember King as the guy who offered to marry gay people to his lawnmower, the guy who claimed evidence for gay parenting is “fake” like global warming research, or the guy who tried to ban trans people from peeing in the Capitol.

He has also claimed that no gay people will go to heaven and, just last year, compared proposals for government-funded gender reassignment surgery for US troops to the Ottoman practice of castrating slaves.

Republican Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz (L) shares a laugh with US Congressmen Steve King, R-Iowa (C) and Louie Gohmert (R), R-Texas, at the North Star Lounge during a campaign stop in Fenton, Iowa, January 29, 2016, ahead of the Iowa Caucus. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Ted Cruz with Steve King (Getty)

And this week, he has targeted Gonzalez, the bisexual president of Stoneman Douglas High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance who has been at the forefront of the #NeverAgain movement since 17 people were killed at her school.

Together with fellow students like David Hogg and Cameron Kasky, the 18-year-old has prompted a tidal wave of public sentiment in favour of better gun regulations following the shooting in Florida.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez is hugged by a friend following her speech at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 17, 2018. A former student, Nikolas Cruz, opened fire at the high school leaving 17 people dead and 15 injured on February 14. / AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

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But on his election campaign’s Facebook page, King – or one of his team – posted a meme which attacked the teenager for her ethnicity.

Next to a picture of Gonzalez, it read: “This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don’t speak Spanish and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self defence.”

(Facebook/steve king)

The team then proceeded to argue with Orlando massacre survivor and activist Brandon Wolf in the comments.

Wolf wrote: “Are you SERIOUSLY mocking a school shooting survivor for her ethnic identity?!

“Do you losers have NOTHING else to do anymore? Have you lost the will to govern? Do you need a safe space from these teenagers?

(Twitter/bjoewolf)

“When it was my community, where were you? When it was Sandy Hook? Columbine? Were you on the sideline mocking those communities too? Did you question someone identifying as a mother?

“Did you question whether people like me were crisis actors?” he asked.

“Emma stood for 6 mins and 20 seconds to honour the lives of 17 gone too soon. The least you could do is shut your privileged, ineffective trap for 6 seconds to hear someone else’s perspective.”

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 24: Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, including Emma Gonzalez (C), stand together on stage with other young victims of gun violence at the conclusion of the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, including students, teachers and parents gathered in Washington for the anti-gun violence rally organized by survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14 that left 17 dead. More than 800 related events are taking place around the world to call for legislative action to address school safety and gun violence. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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And King’s team hit back, saying: “Pointing out the irony of someone wearing the flag of a communist country while simultaneously calling for gun control isn’t ‘picking’ on anyone.

“It’s calling attention to the truth, but we understand that lefties find that offensive. P.S. Congressman King will win re-election in a landslide :)”.

(Facebook)

There are currently four Democratic candidates and one Republican seeking to unseat King on November 6.

It seems that King hasn’t learned anything from the example of Leslie Gibson, a Republican candidate who was running unopposed for a place in Maine’s House of Representatives until he called Gonzalez a “skinhead lesbian”.